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Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

I'm kind of appalled that a pediatrician would suggest ignoring feeding cues from a 10 week old. Not surprised mind you, but still appalled.

Originally Posted by @llli*nsm

Yes, my ped told me to start weaning my daughters night feeds, she is 3 weeks old! I just nodded, ds night nursed until 15 months no way I would be weaning a 3 week old. They do begin spacing out their feedings as they grow.

Very common advice. And advice that is just wrong. Your baby needs comfort. At this age, nursing = comfort. That's what it is.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

I had that problem when my ds was 9 weeks (now 12 weeks).. I was trying to get him to sleep longer at night to prepare for my return to work. So, like most are saying... feed more during the day and do activities that will be stimulating, that way they will sleep better at night. Another thing I did, which seemed to help, was instead of nursing before bed, I would bottle-feed my milk instead. That way I knew for sure he was getting what I know would fill him up and keep him satisfied longer. It has worked for me. He only wakes once now and I just bring him in bed with me and fall back to sleep while he is nursing.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

RE: "stimulating activities", I assume you mean between naps, which can be quite lengthy (1-2 hours). He's taking one in the morning and one in the afternoon, most of the time. Otherwise, it seems like we've been doing this - get him into the daylight (as much as we have here in MN at this time of year!) ASAP in the morning, do tummy time and other stuff for playtime, feed him, let him nap, then start all over again.

We had a horrible night again last night - seems to fight the swaddle, so switched him to PJs at 2am, but then were up until 3am trying to get him settled. He wouldn't even feed to sleep!! Ugh. I hope this is a growth spurt.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

Originally Posted by @llli*amy191

We had a horrible night again last night - seems to fight the swaddle, so switched him to PJs at 2am, but then were up until 3am trying to get him settled. He wouldn't even feed to sleep!! Ugh. I hope this is a growth spurt.

Sometimes you can do everything "right" and your baby still doesn't sleep that great. Having survived one of the most restless babies on these threads (or so it seems! ) I really believe a lot of it is temperament. My baby just needed more help settling than other babies. Over time, I developed coping mechanisms for myself, so that I could feel better (go to bed earlier, cosleep, enlist DH to do all nighttime diaper changes since I was the one breastfeeding, etc.). I'm not saying this will be necessary for you, and I hope you'll have better luck, but the constant quest to change a child who just won't change - it's frustrating. Don't get stuck in the trap of wondering what you did wrong, or what you could do instead. It's exhausting, and in the end, all children do learn to sleep on their own, even my crazy nonsleeper. Everyone told me this, and I could hardly believe them, but it's true!

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

I don't know if this would help, but I found that mine wakes up a lot when I change his diaper at night, since I have to go into the other room, and end up turning on the light and everything. And then he's awake like he's ready for the day, and it's 3 am... So I just got a little basket with enough diaper stuff for the night, put that by my bed, and just change him on the bed (we cosleep and I already have a rubberized mat or towel or fleece blanket down on the bed for leaking issues). He wakes up a lot less since I don't have to really pick him up or anything. And I put a nightlight in the room to be able to change/latch on by, rather than having a bigger light waking everyone up.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

Originally Posted by @llli*rakoonz

I don't know if this would help, but I found that mine wakes up a lot when I change his diaper at night, since I have to go into the other room, and end up turning on the light and everything. And then he's awake like he's ready for the day, and it's 3 am... So I just got a little basket with enough diaper stuff for the night, put that by my bed, and just change him on the bed (we cosleep and I already have a rubberized mat or towel or fleece blanket down on the bed for leaking issues). He wakes up a lot less since I don't have to really pick him up or anything. And I put a nightlight in the room to be able to change/latch on by, rather than having a bigger light waking everyone up.

We always did this as well. No need to turn on bright lights, just keep a very dim bulb somewhere that you can turn on for diaper changes. At some point, most babies stop pooping at night and you don't need to change their diapers at all unless they're very full.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

I DO kind of feel like we're doing everything "right" after reading all of your sage advice. (THANK YOU, BTW!) We use a nightlight, avoid changing the diaper more than once/night - and sometimes not even that - I sometimes express milk and feed him a bottle AFTER his last nursing of the evening so we know he's "full" before he goes to bed, etc. etc. I do feed him in bed w/us, but we are not co-sleeping. I go and get him and bring him into bed, then put him back in his crib in the room across the hall. Or, if that doesn't work, in his swing in the living room (then I sleep on the couch), or in the napper in the pack & play in our room.

So maybe he's just the way he is and we just need to wait and hope for the best.

My parents commented over Xmas that they just couldn't believe how he stayed up all day (yes - he avoided napping entirely over that wkend). I was dreading how our nights would go, but he actually slept pretty well over that particular w/e, even being out of town! Figures, eh?

Anyway. Thanks again. I will keep trying what I'm trying and gently suggesting to him that he sleep more. Hopefully, one fine day he will get it. He's on his first (substantial) nap today again (4pm), so we'll see what tonight brings.

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

my daughter was up every hour for 7 months nursing ...it was so hard!! we co slept cause it was the only way i slept at all. she eventually learned to latch herself and i hardly ever woke up. now 4 years later she nursed till she was 3 and was exclusively bf never had a bottle ...now at age 4 she still never sleeps lol!!!! my new baby ...now 5 weeks has a 4 hour stretch at night ...i was like WOW!!! so i think it is also temperment it will get better!

Re: Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week

Cosleeping didn't help my baby sleep any better - it was for my own survival. Getting up and down with a baby wakes mom up a lot more than just rolling over to nurse. If I had tried to put Joe down in a room across the hall, that would have done me in, because once I'm up, it's much harder to settle back to sleep. I know bed sharing isn't for everyone, but what about keeping the crib right by your bed for a while. Once you're up and the blood starts flowing, etc., it's a lot harder to go back to sleep. When you're doing everything "right" and your child is still waking up a lot, you need to start thinking about what YOU could be doing differently in order to feel better rested. For me that was going to bed earlier (hard for me!) and sleeping close to my child. We've bed-shared, used a cosleeper, side-car crib, and used a crib in our room. With the crib, I always made DH put the baby down in it, since (a) he falls back to sleep better than I do; and (b) I'm nursing so it's only fair.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.